The main technologies for mobile broadband are High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access (WiMAX). These technologies are based on the traditional cellular network architecture; base stations (which may be installed e.g. in radio towers) may cover an area of a few square kilometres (a so-called macrocell) and are usually operatively connected to base station controllers and the core network through Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) or a similar backhaul technology.
Much of the cost of such networks lay in planning the network, installing base stations and providing backhaul. Deals have to be negotiated with property owners and equipment must be purchased, installed and serviced. To improve capacity and reduce cost most mobile broadband technologies also support so-called picocells. For picocells a very small base station operatively connected to a base station controller and the core network through the customers' existing broadband Internet connection is installed in a customer home or office.
IEEE 802.11 (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) compatible technology may also be used to provide service access (e.g. to the Internet) outside of the home or office. A location with IEEE 802.11 compatible access points providing service access to the public is often referred to as a “hotspot” while a larger area, such as a neighbourhood with continuous coverage, is often referred to as a “hot zone”. While the IEEE 802.11 standard supports strong authentication and encryption these features are often disabled in a public network to allow potential customers to access information about the network and its services. The most common technical solution, known as the Universal Access Method (UAM), is that the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests from an unauthenticated terminal are redirected to a captive portal where users are requested to authenticate themselves using a web browser by entering their user credentials before they are authorized to access the desired service (e.g. the Internet) through the network.